In 2011, Robert De Niro was awarded a Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes. During his speech, the actor launches a line of humor on the poor reception reserved for “My father-in-law and us”.
My stepfather and us : never two without three
After meeting his in-laws and then meeting his parents and his in-laws, Greg Furniker (Ben Stiller) can finally fully enjoy his family life with Pam (Teri Polo) in My stepfather and us. Now the father of twins Samantha and Henry, he is even offered the role of clan leader by his stepfather Jack (Robert De Niro) when he suffers a heart attack.
Things get complicated when Jack discovers that Greg has an undeclared job and that he is dating Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba), a pharmaceutical representative a little too much for his taste… Blythe Danner, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Laura Dern, Harvey Keitel and Owen Wilson complete the cast of this third part of the trilogy, on which Paul Weitz (American Pie, For a boy) succeeds Jay Roach as director.
If it does not make an oven at the box office, collecting all the same 310.6 million dollars of world receipts for an estimated budget of 100 million, the feature film is not as profitable as My stepfather and me and My stepfather, my parents and me.
Robert De Niro ironic about bad reviews
My stepfather and us also undergoes the wrath of the press. the DailyMail speaks for example of a “comedy devoid of ambition”, while the Guardian evoked a “deeply hateful film”. For Total Movie, all participants in the project came “only for the money”. In France, the reviews are hardly more laudatory. MoviesNews ensures in particular that this new confrontation “has no freshness”. An opinion shared by TeleCineObswho declares that “the vein is running out”.
Aware that the film does not have much more to journalists, Robert De Niro is ironic about this not really warm reception in 2011. When Matt Damon presents him with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes for his entire career, the actor launches, provoking bursts of laughter:
I would like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (organization of journalists who vote for the nominees and the winners of the Golden Globes, editor’s note). Thank you for this extraordinary honor. I was very moved and happy when you made this announcement two months ago, long before you had the chance to criticize “My stepfather and us”.
A touch of humor that seems to correspond to the state of mind of the actor during the filming of My stepfather and us. Asked by CinemaBlend in December 2010, Robert De Niro fully assumes the fact that this comedy is a recreation for himand that he is far from taking such a project as seriously as those who made his legend:
We had fun, I had a lot of fun (making the film). When I shoot a comedy, I have less pressure and restrictions. If something goes wrong, we can just cut, or the director asks to try something else. There’s more room to have fun somehow.
